Maggy Doherty: Hey Anna, good morning.

Anna: Good morning, Maggie. How are you?

Maggy Doherty: I'm good. I am so excited to hang out and talk to you about your business today.

Anna: Me too. Looking forward to it.

Maggy Doherty: Have have you had business coaching before? Okay. Cool. I think I saw on your intake that I guess we'll get into in little bit, but that you may get business coaching from a client kind of like an exchange of services. So I wasn't sure if that had happened yet.

Anna: Not Yeah. So no, not yet. And I'm actually hesitating on that a little bit. and I'm happy to explain that whenever.

Maggy Doherty: Yeah. Absolutely. well, let's get into it. Tell me a little bit about your practice and where you're at right now.

Anna: Yeah, sure. So so I've been a dietitian for over 15 years, outpatient, weight management, oncology. so a lot of experience with one-on-one counseling. And then I bought an LLC in January called Strano Nutrition. My last name is Strano, so Strano Nutrition, just to because I couldn't there were so many options. I'm like, let's keep it simple. We can always rename later.

Maggy Doherty: Mm-hmm.

Anna: and so that was back in January, and then I was like doing EMR research and I landed on practice picnic. I'm not sure if you've heard of it. It's not really as popular as simple practice or healthy. but it's the cheapest and it's very bare bones. So I landed on that because again, really, really

Maggy Doherty: Okay.

Anna: at the startup line, don't have any clients. again, was thinking, okay, I'll invest maybe in a different EMR, one that has more options once the ball gets rolling. and I've been working on a website, so I have hired someone to make a website for me. and you know, based on my research, a lot of people say like you don't have to worry about your website. But you should have a landing space because I don't want to do social media. I don't you know, so I have to have another place to land. And I think like as a consumer, I like to go on people's websites and see like what's what's going on. so I've been working on that since like January, February. where are we at? We're in June.

Maggy Doherty: Mm-hmm.

Anna: So, you know, just been a lot of back and forth and then some life things happen on my end, some life things happen on their end. And but I'm really ready to launch. I've been networking with some doctors in the area. They're like, Do have a card? And I'm like, Not yet, you know, do you have a website? And I'm like, Almost. So and you they're very open. They're like, you know, as soon as you get that, like I'm happy to put your cards out, I'm happy to refer to you. so it's really just me holding up the process, I guess if you will. and you know, the website's just been a little bit you know, it's like, how does it look? You know, do I like these colors? Does this copy look good? Is it, you know, grammatically correct? Am I getting across what I want to get across to my potential client? And right now we're down to like the nitty-gritty. So I'm like, the an apostrophe here. we forgot, you know, a word here. I think overall I'm happy with with the content and you know, I'm just I'm I'm pretty much ready. Honestly, I wanted to launch last week, but

Maggy Doherty: Mm-hmm.

Anna: I there were still some little tweaks, you know. but at the same time I told them I'm like, you know what, let's just launch and then I can always perfect it after. I think it's good enough. people can get to me through it. so again, I'm I'm pretty much ready on that in that end. so yeah, that's kind of where I'm at.

Maggy Doherty: Yeah. Yeah. There is a have you heard of James Clear before, the author of Atomic Habits? Okay. I am obsessed with that book, but one of my favorite things that I learn in that book is the kind of concept or philosophy of start before you're ready. And essentially you want to get a project 60% figured out and then launch. And the remaining 40% you figure out as you go.

Anna: Yes, I read that book.

Maggy Doherty: If you wait for things to be a hundred percent perfect, you're you're never going to launch your business. And one thing I did last summer is when I launched my kind of business coaching group coaching program. I followed that same philosophy and like I it was a 12 week course. And I think I had the first three days built out, launched it and then like figured it out as I went. And it was one of the best things that I did. business wise, because if I would have waited till I built it all out, I don't think I ever would have started it. and same thing with my my second business. I started, you know, I started and didn't have business cards. I had the website up, but like, I don't think you'll ever be fully ready to launch.

Anna: Yeah, that's kind of, you know, I've am trying to accept that. and I think, you know, I'm really glad that we're having this conversation because I think that one of my concerns is like I'm thinking too far ahead. Like, how do I structure the session? What is it gonna look like? And Am I building out a program? You know, like I'm I have all these questions that I think will only get answered once I'm seeing clients and understanding like what that all is looking like. But I I just feel a little bit unprepared, even if, you know, I'm talking to someone and they're like, what do you do? And well, how does that work? Or how long is your program? What does it look like? And I'm like, I don't really have those answers for you because I am not sure how I want to structure it. you know, so and I and I think like I like I am ready to launch. Like let's like let's just do it and figure it out. I feel a little bit like my confidence is lacking in the actual one on ones, which of course I've had so much experience, right? But like when you're working for like a hospital or clinic,

Maggy Doherty: Yeah.

Anna: It's completely different. Like there's no pressure in a sense because insurance is covering it. You know, I'm not taking insurance. I would like to charge, you know, and that's another question I have, you know, as something that's, you know, definitely makes it worth my time and my value. and so I just want to make sure that people walk away from a session, be like, that was worth it. You know? so that yeah, that's kind of where Where I'm at. Like I'm I'm I'm ready as far as sixty percent and probably eighty percent.

Maggy Doherty: Yeah. What's what's holding you back right now to launch? So it sounds like one thing is confidence in session and session structure, not being able to answer every question fully.

Anna: Yes. So launching the website, the only thing holding me back is just again grammatical errors. So any day now, it just let's fix those and let's launch. and then once, you know, I'm picturing like, okay, a client calls me, I put her on the schedule and you know, what is our initial look like? Like I I don't even know how long I'm supposed to make it. Like Should it be an hour? Should it be an hour and 15 minutes? You know? I have an intake form. very thorough. And do I have them fill it out before the session, or do we go through everything in the session? I mean, I feel like it could that could go both ways. Like I can send the intake form, they can fill it out, and we can review it in the session, figure out goals, you know, how if how we can work together. Or, you know, some people may not fill it out and then we just go through and that's what's gonna take up the whole time. you know, is that okay? I I I mean, I think about myself and I've gone to different therapy sessions, I've and I find that like the first three sessions are just them gathering information. And that's what I kind of wonder is like, do I s do I think of my program, if you will, as like a like therapy sessions. Like we like there isn't like a hey, this is six months. In the first month we do this, in the second month we do that, in the third month we do this. Do I just kind of go with what the client needs, or do I cap it at a six-month program, if you will? I think that's where I'm getting a little bit confused because of course, you know, I see what other dietitians are doing and I think maybe my goal eventually will be to provide a program. Maybe you see I'm a little bit just like all over the show with not having the structure, I guess is where I'm feeling a little like insecure is I guess my it's like, is it okay for me to do an initial, gather information, s set some goals, and then the next visit is it a half an hour? And then do we slowly work through the goals that she has and however long it takes is how long it takes. And you know, I've listened to some of your other podcasts and I think Perhaps that is the way to start and then seeing if I have client retention based on my approach to to like, okay, I must be doing something right if I'm able to ha you know, retain these clients and I'm getting referrals by word of mouth. And then if I'm not, then I, you know, I turn back to you and I join your program.

Maggy Doherty: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So it it sounds I kind of like two things I'm hearing. This one is like this you've been a dietitian for 15 years and most of your career has been an outpatient. You know what you're doing. So it's just transferring what sessions you feel like have been the most effective over the past 15 years with time, length, and structure. The type of clients who have felt the most empowered leaving your sessions have come back, you're doing something right there. And so how do you take those skills and those knowledge and transfer it to your practice now? The kind of double-edged sword of having your own practice is you can do whatever you want, however you want. And there's no rules that you gotta follow, especially if you're not accepting insurance. You can, you like the world is your oyster. When you accept insurance, there are more.

Anna: Right.

Maggy Doherty: Time constraints, there's more kind of structure that you have to have documentation-wise. but when you're private pay, I mean, you just need a like consent form and some HIPAA stuff signed, and then you're you're good to go. so it sounds like that's the piece where you're struggling, where like you have this experience, but how do you translate it without being told what to do? Especially when you transition from being an employee to being a boss.

Anna: Right. Right.

Maggy Doherty: I started my first practice back in 2019, and I had two years of experience as a dietitian in the inpatient setting. I'd really had never done outpatient, and I don't think I took a course or anything. I just kind of went with what felt right. When I first started, I did every session for one hour. As I evolved, In realized with insurance, you collect more money per unit when you bill the initial session versus when you bill a follow-up. So you leave money on the table because that's the only time you can bill for that high of reimbursement. So I like to do longer sessions to capture that. As well as intakes take me 75 to 90 minutes. So it took me at least.

Anna: The bad.

Maggy Doherty: three years to recognize, I need more time with initials. So I didn't have it figured out when I first started, but I realized over time and with experience, I need I need more time doing it. I like being with people a little bit longer the first session. Otherwise I don't get to everything. And three, I'm reimbursed more when I'm there longer. So I think kind of the first thing is knowing how you start sessions and structures in time.

Anna: Got it.

Maggy Doherty: You don't have to stay there forever. You can adjust the cool thing about being your own boss, this week you could do 60 minutes, next week you can do 75. You realize 75 don't work, you bo go back to 60. And so a lot of having a private practice and being your own boss is pivoting based on what's working and what's not working. So I think for initials, you kind of have this range where I see one of the dietitians I coach is a Functional dietitian. She's a functional nutrition practice where they're much more thorough in their intake and they do two-hour initials. and then we see, you know, kind of the telehealth companies that standardize at 53 minutes for everything. so their initials, so there's this range between like an hour and two hours for initials. so I would kind of see, like with your experience in outpatient, like how long.

Anna: Wow.

Maggy Doherty: Have you been meeting with people for? Has that time felt too short, just right? Like how would you want how do you want to do it now that you get to make the rules?

Anna: Right. And that's that's a good way of looking at it. I mean, I can tell you in the settings I've been in, it's been like thirty minutes, you know. And so of course we don't get anywhere n near where we have to. but you know, I also think that the system l is a little bit you know, we know the healthcare system, people don't always come back, they don't follow up or it's not covered or et cetera, et cetera. So it was a little bit hard for me to gauge in that sense. I guess when I would sit back and be like, this is just not enough time, that kind of makes me think about like, okay, well, what is enough time? So with that said, I guess then I get a little bit hesitant to because I have to tell, right, when someone calls me for like a discovery call, they'll be like, well, how long is the s how are long are the sessions? And you know, do I start out with 75 minutes? To make sure I have enough time and see how that goes. That's it feels like s I find myself kind of being like, Well, it might be an hour, it might be an hour and fifteen minutes. That's just not I don't think that's professional. As you do?

Maggy Doherty: I do that. I say it's gonna be between sixty and seventy-five minutes. That's okay. Cool. So you can do that. Yeah. So I would say, you know, if you're used to 30 minutes, th in private practice, I have never seen a dietitian offering 30 minutes. that's much more of like a outpatient clinical, more larger business that would do 30. So I'd say at minimum.

Anna: okay. Okay. So see like yeah. Great, I'm gonna write that down. No, I mean that's absurd.

Maggy Doherty: an hour. and if you want to kind of give yourself some wiggle room, schedule it for 75 minutes, tell client between 60 and 75. And then as you start doing initials, you know, if you 75 when I ran a group practice, we initially did all initials for 90 minutes. And we realized that some people could not get to 90 minutes. So

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Maggy Doherty: We trained them on how to dive deeper into the initial, different questions to ask, different educations to go through, how to set goal setting more of like outpatient counseling skills. and some were really great dietitians and were like, I don't need 90 minutes. And so again, it kind of evolved over time where we started allowing dietitians to choose, do you want 60, 75, or 90? And so everyone can kind of be personalized. So I'd say.

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Maggy Doherty: Don't worry about choosing the perfect time and being stuck to it. Just choose a place to start and knowing after you get some initials under your belt, you'll notice you want more time, you want less time, or that's the exact amount of time.

Anna: Okay. Got it. Yeah, I guess I just needed permission to be told that it's okay to have a range.

Maggy Doherty: And you know, again, the double edged sword about having a solo private practice and being your own boss is no one's going to tell you what you have to do. And that's one thing that I really love about business coaching is working with people similar to you who are like just starting and kind of need that like permission or accountability or someone who's like been there, done that to be like, Anna, go. You're good. Just do it.

Anna: Yeah. Right. Yes, exactly. Right. That's the structure of working in like a hospital setting or clinic is like you it's everything is kind of you you get the outline, right? And then you just you do your part, which is, you know, helping people. your schedule is made for you, you know, everything is kind of laid out. And so when I take it into my own hands, I I get a little yeah, like I just need that permission and

Maggy Doherty: Mm.

Anna: structure, I guess if you will. so yeah. Okay. I f I feel good about that.

Maggy Doherty: So that's kind of part one with time with follow-ups. I like doing an hour follow-up. I also really like to compare it it sounds like you go to a therapist or like person. So replicating like what you like in those therapy sessions in terms of time, most therapists always do, you know, 45 to 60 minutes. again, most

Anna: Mm-hmm. Yes.

Maggy Doherty: Most dieticians do an hour follow-up. I I see some people do 30 minutes, but I think an hour is like the sweet spot for a follow-up, unless you're seeing someone like every single week for like accountability, you could do thirty minutes. but I think sixty is a good one to standardize for follow-ups.

Anna: Right. Okay. So yeah, that's kind of a tag along question is and I I think I'm gonna answer it while I ask it is, you know, how do you know when to schedule the follow-up? But I think that's very individualized and based on their goals, you kind of go from there. because I think some people will want accountability and I think that it doesn't take that much long to check in. but I I'm assuming that is something I will

Maggy Doherty: Uh-huh.

Anna: organically figure out as I'm in the session or with more experience.

Maggy Doherty: In outpatient, generally I see for follow-ups 60 minutes every one to four weeks. sometimes when people are starting out, you'll start at a a sooner frequency, maybe weekly, bi-weekly. And as someone kind of reaches their goals and has less to talk about, it can move to that like two to three to four weeks. it also is depending on what's going on. you know, if it's a more yeah, it i there's so many factors that I can kinda depend on. but I I generally start people out at one to two weeks, and then push them to two to four weeks.

Anna: Got it. Yeah, that's that makes sense. and then I guess as far as you know h how much to charge, should I th think of it as like in ev 15 minute increments? Like because I find because as we're talking, I feel like the time could be changing, like, you know, after You know, every first it's every week and then it's every two weeks, and maybe they just need to check in. Maybe it's literally 15 minute check-in, you know, and I and of course, you know, I'm I I I wanna charge for that. so I'm wondering if I figure out how much a 15 minute is worth and then use that as my guide to like, you know, times four if it's an hour, times five if it's an hour and fifteen, or times one if it's just fifteen minute check-in.

Maggy Doherty: Mm-hmm. Absolutely. A couple different ways to go. Again, because you're on your own Bosch, you can charge however, wherever you want, but it's great to have a understanding how you got to that number. So the the first thing is doing research in your area and seeing what are other outpatient private practice dietitians charging for an hour of their time. Have you done that already?

Anna: Mm-hmm. So I have I I should I should do more thorough dive in, but I mean I think the highest I saw was like two eighty. and they do take insurance. And then when I I I actually it turns out one of my friends worked works for that company. So I I reached out to her and and I was like, Wow, you guys charge so much. And they're like, Yeah, we we were able to get reimbursed more with our insurance or whatever their contract was. And again, I'm not taking insurance. So I found that that that could be a goal I have, but and I also think a lot of people in my area, and again, I should probably do more research, are undercharging.

Maggy Doherty: Two eighty is a lot. Yeah.

Anna: 280 is a lot. Yeah. No, I'm not I don't think that that is, you know what maybe whatever when I'm like, you know, superstar at this. But I also find that Some people are charging less than a hundred. And I think that that is that's not enough. I think we need to, you know, I think there's a within our profession, I think people hesitate to charge maybe what they're worth. Sometimes, I definitely do, you know, because once again, I I want someone to walk away and be like, Yeah, that was worth X amount of money. But yeah, I think I need to just do a little bit more research and see.

Maggy Doherty: Get an Excel or a Google Sheet or some sort of Excel document and write down the practice name or the individual person's name, how much they charge per hour. Sometimes people will charge a different rate for an initial versus a follow-up. So you may have kind of two columns there, and then how many years of experience if they have advanced credentials and what their specialty is. Because

Anna: Okay.

Maggy Doherty: You can charge more than someone with one, two, three, four, five years experience. You have 15 years experience. You should be able to charge more than someone with no credentials because you have these advanced credentials. you probably can't charge as much as someone who's the owner of a group practice who's been doing outpatient private practice for for years or someone who has more credentials than you. So

Anna: Right. Right.

Maggy Doherty: I started my second private practice back in May of 2024, I wanna say, and I switched from being insurance based to private pay. So in order to determine my rate, I at the time was specializing specifically in eating disorders and I have my C E D S C, which is an advanced eating disorder credential for supervision. it's kind of like your credentials, but all the the letters are just flip-flop.

Anna: Yes. Yeah. They're all different I was like, Wait, is that the one I I think I have the same one, but no.

Maggy Doherty: Yeah. and so I looked at a lot of private practices in the Dallas Fort Worth area, and what eating disorder dietitians were charging based on if they had that credential and their years of experience. I ended up looking at a lot of eating disorder practices, what the group owner was charging who was a said C, which is very similar to my experience level.

Anna: Okay.

Maggy Doherty: and so I kind of benchmarked myself against them and put myself in a similar bucket of what they were charging because I'm like, we have similar years of experience skills, kind of being the owner. and so in the Dallas Fort Worth area, I landed on about a hundred and sixty dollars per hour. I feel like the normal range for self. Pay private practice dietitians ranges from like a hundred and twenty to two hundred and fifty per hour. Lower for less years of experience, higher for more years of experience, more specialties.

Anna: Yeah. Got it.

Maggy Doherty: Because you're you're virtual. so you're kind of competing with a lot of places. So you may want to see, you know, what Faye, Nourish, Berry Street are charging because they're kind of your competitors in this virtual space. However, if a lot of your marketing is happening within your city, you're actually competing with local dietitians or local dietitians who are virtual.

Anna: Yes. Right. Right. Okay. Got it.

Maggy Doherty: So I'd say that's kind of one homework thing is like really benchmark and see where you're at. And then kind of find the middle ground and just choose a number. And knowing you can choose the number and you can change it. You can make it less, you can make it more. after my so when I first started, I charged 160 for nutrition counseling and then I charged 180 for business coaching.

Anna: Okay. Okay.

Maggy Doherty: I got full with business coaching and so I raised my rate. So then I went from 180 to 200. And so you can not that you have to start low, but if you start somewhere and then you fill up your schedule or you realize that you're undercharging, you can increase your rate. But if we take the number 160, if you divide it by four to get the 15 minute rate, it's 40 bucks.

Anna: Got it. Right.

Maggy Doherty: And so then what I did is I did 75 minute initials. And so it was 200 for an initial and 160 for a follow-up, just based on the the time. If I had an eating disorder client that was 90 minutes, then it'd be, what's that, 240. So I personally didn't make my initial rate higher just because that session was longer. There's not a

Anna: Got it. Okay

Maggy Doherty: right or wrong way to do it, but you'll see people charge more for an initial because it's gonna take you more prep time. I decided not to do that just to keep the the numbers really easy for me.

Anna: Right. Right. Got it. yeah, I mean, I think the prep time that just came to me is, you know, I think that there based on my previous experience, you know, there will be handouts that will have to be made. I mean, granted, I can reuse them, but I feel like there's gonna be more prep time, especially in that initial, you know, influx, I guess, of clients and So some some just something for me to think about that popped up when you were talking about that.

Maggy Doherty: Yeah, that'll be, you know, you're building your resource, your library of resources. And so you don't really want to pass down the fact that you have to create a handout on fiber to the client because that's not their fault. You don't have that yet. so that'll be something where like your first year of seeing clients, every time you see a client, you may realize that you need a handout and you have to buy it from someone. You have to

Anna: Right. Okay. Right.

Maggy Doherty: create it, you have to find it online. And that's just kind of part of the process. But what won't change is that time you're going to take to review their information before. So you can also look at how long it takes you to look up stuff before and then add that right into it.

Anna: Got it. Okay. Okay. Research. Got it. Okay.

Maggy Doherty: That's time. The other thing I heard you talk about is the kind of the session structure and how to do the intake form. what I have found to be the most effective is having clients fill out all of their forms before the appointment. So the intake form, any sort of consent that they're signing, have them fill that before so you're able to review it before, be prepared for the session and not get hit with something you don't know.

Anna: Mm-hmm. Right. Right, right.

Maggy Doherty: what it is. and so I always like that to be done before. If a client doesn't have it done, then I'll have them at least get the consent form side and then we'll kind of their initial we'll just kind of go through the intake form. but so how I have trained dietitians to do intakes is kind of view it as like part one of this part one and part two of the initial session. Part one takes, you know,

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Maggy Doherty: 30 to 60 minutes, where you're figuring out where have they been, where they are, and where they want to be. so what was their reason for visit, reviewing their medical history, labs, medications, food log, their kind of relationship with food story, what foods they like, they don't like, safe foods, fear foods, any food rules they have, and then going into weight.

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Maggy Doherty: where their weights been, what their lowest weight's been, what their highest weight been, what their set point could be, and kind of getting that that bird's eye view of like what's their nutrition story. A lot of times I have their nutrition assessment and we're going through it and like double checking everything and talking in more detail about everything. and then we'll go through like GI, sleep, energy,

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Maggy Doherty: if then anyone else is on their like treatment healthcare team. And so then that's kind of part one where you're just getting all the information and kind of getting up to speed. The reason why I don't like doing 60 minute appointments is then we get all that and it's like, we're out of time, bye, see you next week. And they don't leave with anything. So then that part two is I'll say, Hey, based on everything we talked about, this kind of part two will make a plan. So based on everything you shared.

Anna: Mm-hmm. Right.

Maggy Doherty: We may do some education. We may set some goals. We may not do either of those, but talk about where we're gonna go with everything. And so then that part two can be, you know, 30, 15 to 30 minutes where you're diving into one or two things education, you're setting one to three goals, or you're just saying, hey, based on all this, next time we should work on ABCD. And then you set the follow-up. I have found that structure and that flow to be pretty helpful. I have in my I think it's in my program or a master class, I have kind of a handout that walks through all of that. So I'll send that to you after on like session structure, like how I recommend structures, sessions to go. And again, you can start there and then you can adapt based on what works and what doesn't work. But I think you gotta trust yourself knowing like You you know how to do an initial. Just for you it's gonna be now you have more time. So you don't have to crank through things as fast. You can spend more time in certain areas or you can get to more stuff.

Anna: Got it. Okay. That that makes sense. yeah. Right.

Maggy Doherty: And then with the the structure for the follow-ups tends to be what's been going on since we messed met last time like generally I just like hey, how have things been in the past week, two weeks, months? And then that open ended question lends itself for the client to tell you what's been going on and where they want to do. If you get a short one-word answer or one or two sentences that's kind of ends there, I may ask like.

Anna: Right.

Maggy Doherty: You know, what were some barriers or challenges with eating over the past XYZ timeframe? What were some wins or things that went well? Or you can go through their goals. Hey, we set three goals last time. How did one go? How did two go? How did three go? So usually that simple structure on how you've been, what worked, what didn't work, where you got with goals can fill up the whole hour.

Anna: Right. Right. Right. And you know, it's very familiar to me because I that is what I've been doing. in in in the clinic world. I just don't know why I'm hesitating. I mean, I do know. I do know why, but I think I just need to do it. I think it just, you know, and I think it will naturally flow like it has the last, you know, fifteen years of, you know, seeing seeing patients and follow-ups. So yeah, I just I just need to do it. I I f I feel like I'm getting I'm getting a push here to just like yeah. Yeah.

Maggy Doherty: I agree. Yeah. Boom. and the other thing that you talked about was a program.

Anna: Yeah.

Maggy Doherty: I wouldn't worry about that right now. I would start with starting with nutrition counseling and offering sessions. And then see as a couple weeks or months go by, if you notice all your clients are following this flow and you didn't even realize that you came up with this thing where you focus on this the first session, this the second, or this month one, this month two, you may naturally create a program and realize. Hey, this way I'm doing things really works. I'm going to market a six month program, kind of calculate how many sessions that would be. And now this six month program is X number of dollars because it has this many sessions, and here's the flow. So that program will likely come later through just experience of seeing what's working and what's not working. Or you may notice.

Anna: Got it. Right.

Maggy Doherty: All of your clients are asking for the same thing. Maybe they're all feeling alone in their perimenopause journey and like no one gets them, and you create a support group. Maybe all of them are asking for recipes and meal plans. And so you create a group class on meal plans, or you create a course or handout that they purchase.

Anna: Mm.

Maggy Doherty: So the the program's likely gonna come out of experience. I think it'd be really hard to launch a private practice without having private practice experience, creating a program and assuming people want this product.

Anna: Right. Right. That that makes sense. And that was kind of you know, what I was feeling like internally is like, let's start, let's start and then let me see what people need. because it is like like overwhelming to be to think about like I'm just gonna be guessing to make a program and that's a lot of, you know, effort and work and what if it doesn't land and then

Maggy Doherty: Mm-hmm. And when you Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And with doing a program, a lot of times you'll wanna survey your clients. So you're gonna have you're gonna need enough clients to say, Hey, here's this thing I'm thinking of providing. Would you want this? What would you want in it? How much would you pay for it? And then you get that data and you say, Okay, I'm gonna launch this program based on what my clients said they wanted, and I'm gonna run a pilot. So it's gonna be free, reduced cost.

Anna: Mm-hmm. Right. Got it. Yeah, that makes sense.

Maggy Doherty: reduce time. If the pilot works, then you fully launch it. And you can also look and see like what are other programs that people are running. that's the same way that I started the dietitian business network program, where I s got enough clients. I kept hearing the same problems with everyone. So I sent out a survey. What would you want? How often would you want to meet? How much would you spend for it? And then I created exactly what people said they wanted. And then I launched a pilot where it was reduced cost. The pilot worked and so then I launched it again.

Anna: Got it. Makes sense. Yeah. We'll put that on the back burner.

Maggy Doherty: 'Cause yeah. Yeah. awesome. So I think that takes care of your session structure. The other thing that you said that was kind of holding you back was the website. I looked through your website this morning and I think it looks great. Like everything's there. I skim through not every page, but your home page, your about page. and I didn't see any grammatical errors.

Anna: Mm-hmm. Okay, great.

Maggy Doherty: I mean, I didn't read every single line, but your clients aren't gonna read ever people skim websites. So how your website is right now, I'd say launch it.

Anna: That's true. Okay, great.

Maggy Doherty: Like your website, if you have an error in your website with a grammatical error, like it's not a big deal. You fix it. But it but with how your website looks like, I mean, you have an FAQ section, you have testimonials, you have your approach written out, you have what it looks like to work with you, you have an about page, you have a contact us.

Anna: Right. Right.

Maggy Doherty: Like you don't need any you don't need anything else. The

Anna: Right.

Maggy Doherty: I'm like every everything is there.

Anna: Okay, I again I just needed that reassurance.

Maggy Doherty: Yeah. So you got your structure, you got the website. it is anything holding else holding you back? Like do you have another full time job? Did you leave your full time job? Is this gonna be your side hustle or what does that look like?

Anna: Yeah, so I left my job. and real I have three little kids. So my focus is that and this is kind of like a side hustle. so you know, I know that I'm very lucky to be able to just leave my job, my full time job, and and kind of have this freedom to develop my my private practice. so that's kind of where I'm at.

Maggy Doherty: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Anna: in that sense. you know, I the reason why I wanted to start a private practice is to have that freedom for my kids. because I am like the default parent, right? So if it's like parent teacher conference, it's me. If it's you know, I'm mom Uber, I drive them everywhere. you know, it's it's so to have that flexibility and then still be able to hold on to my professional life is

Maggy Doherty: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Anna: Kind of where I'm at.

Maggy Doherty: Okay. Yeah. And that's where I see a lot of people decide they want to go into group into private practice or decide to be a group practice owner is to get that freedom and get that flexibility. And that's why I love private practice so much and working for myself so much is you can do what you want, when you want, how you want. And if you are picking up your kids at school at three o'clock, you can schedule appointments till two. And if you have a Parent teacher conference, you can move your clients around. Obviously, we don't want to move them around too much and honor those appointment times, but there's a lot of freedom that you that you get for it. And that freedom is also another like double-edged sword where, like, because you can do anything you want, you're not forced to kind of hit these deadlines where there's a lot of accountability and motivation to get your practice up and running. Cause just cause you

Anna: Right. Right.

Maggy Doherty: launch your website and tell people you have a business doesn't mean clients are just gonna flood through the doors. so it ends up being quite quite a bit of work to get things up and going. So then there's kind of the marketing piece and like, okay, how are we gonna market? How are we gonna network? How are we gonna get your name out there? What what that looks like.

Anna: Right. Right. Right. Yeah. I think I mentioned earlier, like I've I've been networking with like some of the parents are doctors and you know, my daughter's class. So I'm like, hi, like I'm I'm a dietitian. Do you see women in their forties? And then, you know, just one stands out specifically and she's like, That's all I see. She's like, I and they need your help. And I'm like, Great. She's like, Give me your card. I'm like, Soon you know. So I'm

Maggy Doherty: Well. Yeah.

Anna: You know, I think the marketing piece, I I'm going to continue networking that way and see what happens with that. you know, I think again, just starting and then and then reevaluating.

Maggy Doherty: Yeah. Yeah.

Anna: you know, just not I guess, yeah, with the structure and accountability and, you know, all of that really resonates because I've been in, you know, again, the workforce, if you will, with with all that structure and now it's a lot of freedom and now it's like I'm overthinking everything. And, you know, when I I I remember starting new jobs and it's like, okay, here's your training for a week. Okay, now your turn. And I'm like, okay, you know, and now it's like I have like all this time to train. You know, and it's like like let's let's keep let's go.

Maggy Doherty: Yeah. Yeah. And I I think you mentioned that you're in a perimenopause course as well right now. Is that the one by Joyce? Okay, that's what I was thinking. She's phenomenal. I actually I don't know if you did heard the podcast that I did with her a little bit back, but we did a podcast together. But if you're looking for more nutrition counseling, motivational interviewing skills, I mean, she's Queen B, the person that you go to if you want to enhance your outpatient counseling.

Anna: Yes. Yes. my gosh, it's so good. Yes.

Maggy Doherty: so anytime I kind of th there's kind of this connect of I feel like there's, you know, Amy Plano is the go-to for insurance. Joyce is the go-to for nutrition counseling skills. And not that I'm the go-to, but then I'm kind of like more of like the business coaching like infrastructure and kind of that part. So there's you have so many, so many different resources available to make sure that you are comfortable and confident. But I think for you it's

Anna: nej

Maggy Doherty: not getting all this information, but just starting to go and push the ball forward and getting information along the way and knowing you could get that information from paying someone or taking a course, having a coach, but the best way you're gonna learn is just getting started and seeing how things work and what works and what doesn't work.

Anna: Right. Right. I mean, I think about when I, you know, first started in a a weight management clinic and not really having that experience. And then as I would go along, I, you know, two years in or three years in, it's like, you know, I have so much information that I've gathered from seeing all these patients that I am so confident in in counseling the this specific population. And I think that came with doing. Right. So and I I you just reminded me of that. You know, I kind of forgot that that is how I

Maggy Doherty: Yeah. Yeah.

Anna: got very skilled in in that position, is just doing it and gathering info and it's okay to say I don't know. I'll get back to you on that. You know? So yeah. I think I think that that was a good good reminder in that.

Maggy Doherty: I'm excited for you. We only have a couple minutes left. This hour flew by with you. Is there any other kind of last minute questions or things that you want to ask or talk about before we wrap up?

Anna: let me look at my little list.

Maggy Doherty: Yeah.

Anna: Yeah, no, I think we hit on kind of everything that I wanted us to discuss and you know, kind of walk away with. So I appreciate that so much. I think you've really given me that that push to just do it. So thank you for that. And maybe I'll just email my website people and be like, hey, we're launching. Forget it. Forget I you I think I pushed it to August 'cause you know.

Maggy Doherty: Let's go. Yeah. Like

Anna: And I'm like I'm like, okay, let's let me circle back. They probably are like this girl.

Maggy Doherty: I I mean not to push you, but I'd be like end of day today. Like stretch like stretch goal today, but like by end of the week for sure. There's not even like a week worth of work to do. And again, you can launch it, it go live, and then make the edits later. I still catch errors on my website. And

Anna: Right. Right. Exactly. Right, and like I see them on professional websites. I see errors and I'm like what it's it's fine, like we're human, I guess. So

Maggy Doherty: Yeah. Well, if our fellow dietitians want to follow your business journey along, once things are live, where can people find you and support you?

Anna: That see, this is this is the question, right? So I I don't have anything live. Like I am I don't like social media, so I don't have a handle. And I swear I try to make a few different profiles and I just I I just can't can't do it. so really it's gonna be my website that will launch by the end of this week, I hope. And that's a stranonutrition.com.

Maggy Doherty: Love it. All right. Well, I'm excited. Check out your website. Hopefully later today or this week. but otherwise, it was so fun talking to you and I'm so excited for you and your practice and and what's to come. And I think you got a lot of really cool things in front of you. You just you just need someone to give you a push and then you'll get there.

Anna: Yes. Yes, thank you so much. I really appreciate everything that we've we've accomplished in this session.

Maggy Doherty: Yeah. Love it. Okay. Well I will hopefully talk to you later. And it was great learning about you and your business. All right. Bye Anna.

Anna: Thank you, Maggie. Bye.